The headline on a Punchbowl News report on Thursday stood out: “It’s 2016 all over again following Trump’s racist attacks on Harris.” A day earlier, a Fox News personality told viewers that there’s “2016 energy” around this year’s presidential race.
A NOTUS report had a related message today: “A woman atop the Democratic ticket. GOP lawmakers dodging the press. Trump. Birtherism. The 2024 election has a bit of everything that made 2016 memorable.”
At first blush, the analysis seems compelling. In 2016, Donald Trump faced the first woman to lead a major-party presidential ticket; he targeted her with ugly and sexist attacks; and eight years later, the Republican is recycling many of the same words and phrases as he prepares to face the second woman to lead a major-party presidential ticket.
All the while, GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill are pretending to have no idea what Trump is saying, which is similarly reminiscent of what the political world saw during his 2016 candidacy.
But to fully appreciate the scope of the former president’s ridiculous antics, perhaps it’s best to look back even further — not to 2016, but to 2010.
Trump has spent much of the week questioning Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial and ethnic identity, suggesting the nation’s first Black vice president might not be Black enough by his standards. But as a New York Times report noted, the Republican nominee went even further yesterday.
Mr. Trump also amplified posts from Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist, who had posted copies of Ms. Harris’s birth certificate and had spread false accusations that Ms. Harris has lied about her race.
Yes, the conspiracy theorist who helped pioneer the racist “birther” attacks against Barack Obama — several years before he came down the escalator and took over GOP politics — has decided, more than a decade later, to once again take an interest in another Black candidate’s birth certificate. As Off Message’s Brian Beutler argued, this is less like 2016 and more like what voters would’ve heard “if Trump had challenged Obama in 2012 as a birtherism dead-ender.” The Washington Post asked Loomer yesterday whether she’s the one who brought this line of attack to Trump’s attention. “Probably,” the right-wing personality replied, noting that she’d shared the image with the former president. Common sense suggests Trump, given his ridiculous antics targeting Obama’s background, should steer clear of even passing references to birth certificates, but evidently, he can’t seem to help himself.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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